Forgotten Warriors
by The Red Comet
Summary: Forgotten Warriors was intended to tell the OYW through the mono-eyes of the opposing side. The story revolves around the 352nd MS Team and follows them through their triumphs and failures, and perhaps even a little romance in the future. Please R&R.
1. Opening Moves

Chapter 1: Opening Moves

0079.03.22

0436

European Continent:

352nd MS Team Temporary Field Headquarters, 12 Miles from Stuttgart

Odessa Ataka drew in a cold lung-full of the wintry German air. She smiled to herself, this sight never failed to take her breath away. She stared down at the city of Stuttgart through the binoculars. Odessa smiled to herself, the newly fallen snow hadn't even been disturbed yet. She looked at the built in clock in the binocular display, 0437, of course nothing was disturbed. The local population hadn't even awakened to see that it had snowed, for the moment it belonged to her alone.

"Lieutenant...," perhaps not her alone anymore, "Hey! Lieutenant Ataka! Ma'am you know you scheduled the briefing to begin at 0500." the voice of Sergeant Collins, her command and control armored car commander, echoed through the trees.

Odessa sighed to herself and lowered the binoculars, the city of Stuttgart transformed from the city buildings and streets in her binoculars to a glob of light in the darkness about 12 kilometers away. She turned to face the young man of only 20 who had invaded her early morning vigil. Sergeant Ben Collins stood only about 10 meters from her lookout position and looked positively miserable about being up so early and thrust into the cold none the less, and the white camouflage jacket, pants, facemask, and helmet with their mottled green spots were doing little to hide his mood. "Milo sent you didn't he?" she asked turning to walk back to the camp, trying to match her earlier footprints as closely as possible.

"Our intelligence spook?" Collins asked quietly, referring to the battalion intelligence officer, "Yeah that paper pusher is too good to come get you himself and I was the only one awake enough to come find you and find my way back." he added with a smile, falling in line behind Odessa.

"Great," she replied sarcastically, "So if I ever need someone to be half asleep and go find something for me I'll know who to ask."

"But, Lieutenant, that's what you have our whole armored car for. Remember we're now your link back to the world outside our sector?" Collins asked, referring to the upgrades performed on the unit's command and control armored car's communications equipement.

Odessa shook her head _God help us all_ she thought, grinning to herself, but decided it best not to continue arguing with Collins. She trudged back through the snow towards her platoon's small encampment. Upon entering she stopped again to glance around at the operations going on. Her sudden stop caused Sergeant Collins to nearly plow over her as he continued forward with the only thought in his head being reaching the warm command post and maybe getting a few more minutes of sleep. She heard him mutter a half hearted "Sorry, Ma'am," but dismissed it with a wave of her own gloved hand, "I think I can find it from here, Sergeant," she said smiling, standing only 50 meters from their destination, "Go ahead and try to get what sleep you can. Briefing is in only 15," she added checking her watch.

Collins nodded enthusiastically and trudged off for the command tent, leaving Odessa to stare up at the second sight in the region that could fill her with awe. The 3 MS-06F Zaku IIs sat about 25 meters from the command tent but this was the only location from which she could look up a their full 17.5 Meter height without straining her neck. As she watched the two technicians who doubled as her communications crew in the armored car, Specialist Carrie Owens and Specialist 1st Class Darren Tanner, working over the joints of the 2nd Zaku, checking for any ice that may have formed overnight. She sighed and shook herself out of her trance, "Tanner, Owens, you have 10 minutes to finish that up then report for the briefing," she called up to the two who were crouched on the mobile platform by the left knee. Her orders were answered by a quick "Yes, Ma'am!" shouted in unison by the two who quickly went back to their work. Odessa smiled to herself, it looked like Tanner was trying to teach Owens some of the finer points about slacking off but still getting the job done.

Odessa looked down at her watch, _0457 well everyone but Corporal Harris was here, and he was starting up the armored car like he should, and it never hurt to start early, _she thought to herself. She set the half-eaten MRE down on the table beside her leg and stood up. "Alright we're gonna get this show on the road," she said looking out at the small collection of pilots and technicians, "You all know we've been here for nearly 4 days now and high command has decided enough combat drops with the HLVs. They're tired of risking 'em and we don't have many more to lose and stay on schedule for the invasion, so our forces all over the world have been ordered to secure any space ports in their areas of operations with minimal damage. Our original plan called for us to take the city of Stuttgart and its garrison out first and then push south and take the Stuttgart Spaceport," she traced both locations and their intended route on the map with her fingers. "However, with the new orders from High Command we're switching the priority of our objectives. We need to secure a new axis of attack for our armored friends along the E41 Autobahn leading to the spaceport_,_" she traced the line of road the armored division would be using to attack the spaceport. "We'll be responsible for securing the section of road passing through the forested region in the B16 sector while other units will take other locations along the road," she pressed her hand against the map in their sector. "Our Intel boys have been working overtime to find out what we're up against and for that little bit of important information I'll let Captain Milo take over," she said stepping to the side.

Captain Edward Milo stepped up to take her position in front of the map, he looked out of place in his immaculate green dress uniform compared to the collection of slightly rumpled winter BDUs present in the tent. Odessa shook her head looking at the man, _Guy belongs behind a desk,_ she thought to herself, _and if he didn't have information on what we're up against I wouldn't want him within five miles of my platoon._ "Well I think Lieutenant Ataka covered most of the plan," Milo said with a smile, "We estimate you'll be up against no more than two or three armored platoons in the woods. Once you destroy them and the Magella units begin arriving you'll join them in the attack on the base. Where we estimate only two armored companies... at the most," he added on with a confident smile, "We've had nothing for reports of Federation Mobile Suits and we believe it safe to assume that at this stage of the war they do not have this technology. However," he added, suddenly becoming serious, "The EFF Type 61s are not to be taken lightly. They can present a threat if you get overconfident and careless. So be careful out there."

"Right," Odessa said standing back up at the front of the tent, the sputtering roar of the diesel engine outside told her that Harris had managed to start up the armored car, "This thing goes down at 0530. All pilots I want you by the suits at 0515 everyone else you know your duties, if you finish up early get some sleep or eat something. I want us going into this as fresh as possible. Zieg Zeon!" she finished up with a shout.

Captain Edward Milo turned to leave the tent, _Hmm, she seems to be quiet loyal to the cause… the briefing fit perfectly with regulations. I'll keep that in mind if her name should cross my path again. This unit could be a good one to have my name associated with_, Milo turned back to he assembled platoon, "To victory, life or death!" he snapped a salute to the assembled soldiers before walking out of the tent, confident he had their respect.

At the looks of outrage on some of the faces in the tent Odessa held up a hand to forestall any comment until she heard the engine of Milo's staff car start and the car start down the road. As soon as she dropped her hand Private Mark Dixon, one of the other pilots in the unit, burst out, "He has now right!" he shouted, which brought several nods of agreement around the tent, "He hasn't even been on the front! Never seen death… He has no right to say that to us!"

Odessa sighed and leaned back against the table and crossed her arms over her chest, "Neither have you, Mark," she reminded him. "Unless I'm mistaken I'm the only one here who has seen the Federation in battle," she referred to her experience in the battle of Ruum, "Unless one of you is some kind of black ops pilot attached to my platoon for 'intelligence' purposes?"

Mark blushed and looked down in embarrassment at her rebuke. "However," Odessa continued with a smile, "That's all about to change… so you have more right to your opinion than he does to say that. Alright everyone the orders stand now let's get to it," she said pushing off the table and began folding up the maps and plans and slipped them into the carrying cases.

Odessa looked down at her watch for only about the hundredth time in the hour and forty-five minutes she'd been awake. It was only 0513 but one of the other two pilots had already shown up. She stamped her feet in an attempt to stay warm and glanced over at Corporal Ami MacKenzie. The girl was 18, only about 3 years younger than her and had shown a large degree of competence in the simulators. But simulators were only simulators the real thing was about to happen, all Odessa could do was hope the girl retained the same abilities in real combat as she had shown in the simulators. She glanced over in the direction that Private Dixon's muffled footsteps were coming from. The young man, like Collins, was obviously a little angry at being up so early and freezing to go get shot at. But he was following orders thus far and she hoped he would continue to do so when the shooting started or there would be little hope for his continued survival in the war. Dixon had shown some potential in the simulators too but Odessa would have liked him to have had more time back in training, but such things couldn't be helped war put a damper on any such plans.

Alright you two," Odessa began when Dixon made it to where she and MacKenzie were standing, "The shooting is real this time so no mistakes. Make sure everything is working one hundred percent or it's your own butt on the line. Also I need you following orders to the letter got it? Its gonna be bad enough having to call back to the Gallop for the full picture all the time so I need you where I tell you to be when I tell you to be there. Alright, enough of the pep talk... you both heard the briefing this whole thing revolves around our Mobile Suits pulling this off so you both need to know that plan inside out. Any questions?"

Corporal MacKenzie raised her hand slowly, "Ma'am, I... uh I kinda forgot how the Feddies organize their armored units," she blushed at the fact that she had forgotten such an important piece of information, "Do you think you could go over that again?"

Odessa fought back a smile, this was both of their first times going into a battle such things were to be expected and because she had one more under her belt than they did it was her duty to reassure them. _Which, _she thought to herself, _I had better do soon that girl looks like she's about to die from embarrassment. _"Relax, Corporal, its not like school. You don't need to raise your hand there's only three of us here. As for Federation armored units, they base theirs on platoons of four rather than our flights of two. Four of their platoons make up a Company, in relation three of our flights make a platoon and four of our platoons make a company and its all the same from there on out." Ami nodded and after the explanation had calmed down a bit, though it still looked like she was trying her best not to cry from the overload preparing for the attack had on her senses. Odessa looked back to the main camp, the troops under Sergeant Collins had finally managed to drop the main tent and stow it on the back of the armored car and now they were trying to finish off their MREs before she gave the order to move out.

"Ma'am, exactly how long are we going to have to hold this stretch of road?" she heard Dixon ask quietly, he looked as bad as Ami but at least he was asking the right questions too.

Odessa glanced down at the kneeboard she had strapped around her left thigh, the board held her grease pencil notes from the briefing and anything else she found important to the mission. "Plan calls for us to take the region by 0630, so that gives us an hour to get there and play with the Fed Troops, and the first of our armored boys should show up around 0700 so only about thirty minutes." She watched both Mark and Ami write those times down on their own boards before looking down at her watch again. "Alright its 0523 now we have seven minutes before we have to move out. I want you to get in there and crank em up early and double check everything. Look these things are fresh off the assembly line so that means the bugs haven't been hammered out of em yet," she said jerking her thumb back at the trio of suits crouched behind her, "It also means they're going to be impossible to replace if you take a hit so keep 'em in one piece. Also they're rumored to be as good as a full two platoons of Fed Type 61s so try to get at least that many before they shoot you down OK?" she asked trying to lighten the mood, but from the looks on both MacKenzie and Dixon's faces it hadn't had the desired effect. "Alright," she said trying to recover from her earlier comment, "Get in there and get 'em running we haven't got that long before we need to move out and secure this road." The other two pilots nodded and saluted before running off for their own suits and Odessa turned to here own Zaku and smiled, this was the moment she enjoyed the most.

Odessa tapped in her access code on the computer control panel and was rewarded with a shudder that ran through the Zaku as the Minovsky Reactor sputtered to life. She smiled to herself as she ran through the normal startup procedures, it would be the third time she had piloted this suit into combat, the first at the Battle of Ruum when she flew near Lieutenant Commander Char Aznable, now famous as the famed "Red Comet". She had managed to actually keep pace with Commander Char, racking up an impressive kill of a Salamis class and two or three fighters to her credit which was easily overshadowed by his five ship kill and pushing his Zaku thirty percent past what it was thought it could do. For all her efforts she had allowed herself one indulgence, a small gray wolf's head painted on her Zaku's shield. The small insignia, and her desire to work alone, had earned her the nickname of the "Lone Wolf", but all that had changed now. Now she had herself a platoon to worry about, no more running off on her own. The loud ping of the main system starting up and the main view screens jumping to life shook her out of her review of the past and she began to get ready to go into combat. As the heaters in the cockpit kicked in she pulled off the white parka with the same mottled green spots as Sergeant Collins'. Odessa pushed the parka into the survival pack she would grab if by some miracle she survived being shot down, as chances were the reactor would explode from damage to its housing, and slipped the communications headset over the BDU hat she still wore after entering the cockpit. She reached down and pulled on the fingerless leather gloves and rolled up the sleeves of the BDU jacket, with the same camouflage pattern as the parkas, and checked to see that the camera eye would work without any problems. Satisfied that everything was in order thus far she pulled back on the control stick and with a slight groan of cold mechanical parts and a whump of falling snow jolted off the suit by its sudden movement her Zaku, with a larger version of the soldier's own camouflage, rose off the ground and stood like some sort of ancient titan over the German landscape.

Odessa opened the radio channel with the rest of her platoon, "Alright, pilots check in," she ordered looking over to the other Zakus, pushing themselves off the ground.

"Private Dixon here, Ma'am," she heard Mark reply a little nervously, "I'm showing all green. And I triple checked her so she should behave herself."

"Good, glad to hear that, Private. Corporal?" she asked focusing the camera on Ami's suit.

"I... I think I'm OK, Ma'am. Nothing is showing up wrong anyway..." Ami trailed off, Odessa could see her on the video monitor, mounted in everyone's suit for easy identification of who was speaking, glancing around nervously, still in her parka none the less.

Odessa smiled and put on her best "Its all gonna be fine" look, "Well if she hasn't acted up by now chances are you're all good, Corporal. Relax, it'll be just like the sims... and you might want to ditch the parka, if you need it in the cockpit you'll have more serious concerns than being cold," she added with a smile.

Odessa watched her fumble with the parka and shove it behind her seat with the rest of her survival gear before the signal terminated. She was about to ask Collins if he was ready but his gunner, Private Allison Dawes, hanging out of the turret glanced down, nodded, and flashed her a thumbs up. Odessa forced her suit to perform a crude imitation of Dawes' gesture and glanced at the clock built into her viewscreen and sighed, this was becoming a bad habit. 0526 and they were off to war.

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Master Sergeant Kurt Murray slowly pushed himself out of the gunner's hatch on the top of the Federation Type 61. "Aw crap," he muttered to himself, shaking the snow off his hands, "Its almost April there shouldn't be snow now..." he trailed off sliding off the top of the turret and landing roughly on top of a pile of empty 55 gallon fuel drums. _Son of a... didn't I tell that moron Hansen to move these last night? All this just to go answer nature's call?_ he asked to himself, righting one of the drums he had knocked over. "Hansen, get out here!" he yelled to the young private that served as the tank's driver, it had been a rough night already trying to sleep in what Sergeant Murray thought was some engineer's attempt at a chair.

"Yes, Sir?" Private Jacob Hansen asked popping his head out the driver's hatch, "Oh hey it snowed last night... isn't it a little late for that, Sir?" he asked glancing around the forest.

"Yeah... didn't I tell you to move those stupid drums over there with the rest of em?" Murray asked jerking his thumb in the direction of the rest of the two platoon's pile of empty drums.

"Well yes, Sir, I meant to get to that but it was getting late and..." Hansen trailed off brushing the snow away from his set of viewing periscopes.

"I don't care what your excuse is you've had your break for the day!" Murray yelled at him, "Anderson already took your shift on watch last night 'cause we couldn't wake you up! So guess what? Those drums are yours... all yours understand?" he asked with a smile.

"But, Sir!" Hansen started to protest but stopped, knowing that he would end up doing the chore no matter what he said, "Yes, Sir," he sighed and pushed himself out of the hatch and slid off the tank's body to get to work.

_Crap, 25 years in armor and I get stuck with this s*** two weeks before retirement_ he complained to himself_ And if that wasn't bad enough now those Zeek b******* are acting up. Why now?_ He smiled watching Hansen fumble with the first drum, trying to drag it over to the area designated for disposal. As Murray turned to go on with his routine the voice of the Lieutenant left in charge of the two platoons interrupted him, "Sergeant! I need to see you a minute." _ Aw man, why now of all times?_ he thought to himself, resisting the urge to burst out but rather turned to meet the young officer. "Sergeant, I've been looking at the maps overnight and I think our current position isn't the best we could have chosen," the 26 year old officer explained. _Moron, didn't I tell you that 2 days ago when you repositioned us when the Captain left?_ Murray asked himself again. "At 0615 we'll be moving back across the Autobahn to our original positions inside the tree line on the southern flank of the road. Your platoon will go first, with mine covering, and then we'll go next with you covering us, Understood?" the Lieutenant asked him, almost daring him to defy his orders. _ Typical officer_ Murray thought to himself with the usual view the enlisted soldiers took of their officers _Too scared to go get his own brass butt shot at so send the cannon fodder first_ he could think of a few other things he'd like to say but instead just nodded, there was no way he'd let this fool kill him 2 weeks before he was able to finally settle down.

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Odessa chewed nervously on her lower lip, it was almost 0612 and they still hadn't managed to find the enemy tanks that were supposed to be in their area. "Collins, call up the _Ark-Royal_ again, ask if they have anything on any of their sensors," she called the commander of her armored car.

Collins sighed, this was about the 6th time since they'd arrived on this stinking hill. "Yes, Ma'am," and answered and then triggered the intercom for the vehicle, "Alright, Tanner, you heard the lady give _Ark-Royal_ a buzz and find out what ghosts they have for us to chase this time." Collins rubbed his eyes before looking back out the commander's set of periscopes mounted on the armored car, wishing for the thousandth time that the high command had installed a thermal sensor on their car like the Magellas had but this was only an APC, meant to be used and expended radios or not.

In what would have been the troop carrying compartment if the vehicle had still been in service for its original purpose Specialist 1st Class Tanner readjusted the microphone on his head set and clicked the transmit button on the control panel, "_Ark-Royal_ this is the "Steel Wolves"," he said, using the unit's unofficial name, "We need to know if you have any suspicious contacts in our area showing on any of your sensors."

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Specialist Jarrod Carroll sat in front of his sensor monitor in the Combat Command Center, the 3C for short, aboard the Gallop class _Ark-Royal_. He glared at the radio that had dared jump to life again _S***, not those guys from the 352nd again_ he cursed to himself _I still gotta get these Magella dumbs**** back on course I don't have time to screw around with them_ he complained, wishing they could understand his situation. He glanced at the sector those MS jocks had been assigned and seeing nothing keyed his own radio, "352 this is _Ark-Royal_, nothing is showing at all. Same as last time you asked, you're gonna have to find em on your own." he snapped, reopening the line to the commander of the Magella unit, now 5 minutes behind scheadule, "228th you're 3 klicks north of where you need to be recommend you move south for 3 klicks you'll meet the road there." Carroll sighed to himself, this was going to be a long day indeed.

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Odessa groaned softly, finding the enemy on her own was something she didn't look forward to. That meant wandering around an entire 5 kilometer by 5 kilometer grid with three Mobile Suits and a communications armored car looking for about 8 to 12 tanks that may or may not be there. She sighed, it was already 0614 they didn't have time for this crap, but there was no other way unless they just blundered into each other's sights.

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Sergeant Murray felt a slight shudder run through the Type 61 as the engine roared to life, he'd been with this tank for nearly 7 years now and she'd always been good to him. The various crewmembers had come and gone, some more memorable than others, but he had stayed with the Type 61 through it all and intended to finish out his career with her. The current crew was a mix of the good and the bad from over the years. The first was his gunner Lance Corporal Danielle Anderson, she was probably his favorite in all his years of service. The girl was only about six months out of training at Jaburo and was an above average gunner, a rare find in times of peace with the cap on the amount of ammo units were allowed to fire in training, plus she had a great sense of humor and never failed to make the rest of his platoon laugh when they needed it most. Then there was Private Peter Hansen, he was a decent driver, though a little unorganized and irresponsible. With a little more work the kid could be one of the best drivers he'd ever served with but he hadn't put out the effort yet. He still had hope for the young man though, he'd heard stories about guys who couldn't get it together during peace but were real tigers during war so there was hope for him yet... maybe.

"Time to move out, Sergeant," the Lieutenant's voice echoed in his crewman's helmet. _Like I needed to be reminded_ Murray cursed the officer silently. He smiled and touched the small photograph of his wife he kept taped by the compass on his control console _Don't worry, Kate, two more weeks and we'll buy a real house and finally be able to start a real family, no more army bases I promise_ he thought with a smile, Murray sighed and decided it was time to move out, no need to tick off the officers more than necessary.

Murray keyed the platoon radio net, "Alright lets get this over with," he said with a sigh, this meant setting up camp all over again. He felt the Type 61 lurch forward and head for the tree line to the south.

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Odessa was about to order the team off the hill to continue their search when the first Type 61 burst clear from the forest, "Oh s***, all units two... no three... four a full platoon of Fed Type 61s northern tree line, Dixon lets see how well that bazooka of yours works!" she yelled over the radio, "Collins find some cover for your tin can that 20mm isn't gonna do anything but tick those guys off." Collins' reply was cut off by the blast of the first 280mm rocket fired by Dixon, which landed slightly behind his intended target throwing snow and dirt into the air. "Dixon, remember to lead 'em! MacKenzie move to their left flank we're gonna pinch em between us! Dixon cover the armored car!" she called, lighting her thrusters and flying down the hill, not waiting for a response from either of them.

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"Oh s***!" Murray cursed as the first Zeon rocket round impacted slightly behind Corporal Terrance's tank, "Where are they? Anyone see where that shot came from?" he called over the radio.

"Sir! Three Zeek bipedals to the front!" Anderson yelled to him, already pressing her eyes against the sights for the twin 150mm cannons, "Oh hell! Here they come! Sir, request permission to engage," she added a little calmer now.

"Take 'em Dani!" he yelled back as the tank jolted backward from her first shots, "Treat it like artillery fire, everyone take evasive action!" he yelled his orders over the radio _That rocket sure rivals the artillery cannons for caliber, lets just hope they keep missing_ he thought nervously _Where is the Lieutenant? We can't take these guys on our own..._

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_He's treating us like artillery? How interesting... up till now we were treated as tanks. Are they learning or is this guy just lucky?_ Odessa asked herself. "Collins contact _Ark-Royal_ again. Let 'em know we're engaging one enemy tank platoon," she finished just as the second Federation Type 61 platoon broke clear of the woods on her right, "S***, make that two platoons! This just got a whole lot more interesting..." she trailed off turning to face the new arrivals, pointing the barrel of the 120mm machine gun at the tanks. "Ami, change of plan my flank is compromised, you and Mark are gonna have to toast the originals."

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Specialist Jarrod Carroll looked at his sensors in disbelief, _The 352 is engaging already?_ he asked himself _How did the Feddies manage to hide in that sector for so long?_

Captain Edward Milo smiled and glanced at the sensor screen over the young technician's shoulder, he watched the symbols representing friendly suits and enemy armored contacts merge on the small screen and knew they had to be fighting for control of the sector now. _Perhaps it was that MS Team I visited this morning_ he thought his grin growing slightly _Well one way to find out, I've gotta ask this Specialist Carrie... Carroll... something like that_. "Specialist, whose unit is this?" he asked pointing to the team currently engaged with the Federation tanks.

__

Aw 'cmon I don't have time for this Carroll complained to himself, considering turning around and telling whoever it was to buzz off but he noticed the insignia indicating this guy was from the intel section _Not someone to mouth off to_ Carroll told himself. "The 352nd MS Team, Sir. They call themselves the 'Steel Wolves', unofficially of course. I believe they're under a Lieutenant Ataka."

_So it is them... in the thick of it already Lieutenant? I knew you wouldn't disappoint me. _"Thank you, Specialist, carry on," Milo said walking out of the command center.

_Jerk_ Carroll thought to himself, turning back to his console.

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"S***!" Sergeant Murray cursed, watching the Lieutenant's platoon burst from the woods and break off in pairs of two, "Lieutenant, these guys aren't tanks... they're in another league by themselves don't bunch up like that!" he yelled over the whump of the twin 150mm cannons firing again.

"Sir!" Danielle called down again, "I can't hit this guy, the turret just won't turn fast enough I'm shooting behind him all the time!"

Before he was able to even reply to that the Lieutenant's voice crackled over the radio, "Don't tell me how to run MY platoon, Sergeant! You concentrate on actually hitting one of those Zeeks."

_Moron, its gonna be a miracle if we survive this I think we were better off alone_ he thought to himself and hoped his tank wouldn't fail him now.

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Odessa had to smile, with the adrenaline pumping through her body and the danger of combat this was when she truly felt alive. It was almost scary, she knew these Federation soldiers stood no chance it wasn't like fighting back against the heavily armed battleships. It was almost a slaughter, but those Feddies were shooting back so they were keeping this going. Odessa promised herself as soon as they stopped shooting so would she, her conscience wouldn't have it any other way. She squeezed the trigger and the rifle sent a trio of 120mm rounds flying towards the two tanks that were turning to engage her. The first tank was ripped open as two of the rounds impacted on it and burst into fire as its own ammunition began cooking off, but her third round missed throwing up snow near the tracks over the second tank, throwing one of its caterpillar treads off the drive sprockets. "There, you're out of it now pal!" she smiled turning and firing off two quick bursts at the other two tanks, both flying over their turrets. The two tanks fired off their own return shots and Odessa lit her thrusters and slid left along the snow slickened ground causing both rounds to miss.

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Corporal Ami MacKenzie tightened her grip on the control stick for the Zaku _This is nuts_ she told herself _what does the Lieutenant mean take care of these guys? I'm not ready for this yet!_ She pulled her Zaku out of the path of another set of shells fired by that particularly annoying Type 61, wishing she could pause long enough to get a few return shots off at him but his wingmen had her continually moving to avoid their fire. The alarm blaring to life again drew her attention back to the hilltop in time to see Dixon's next rocket streak down at the tanks, the smoke trail ended in an explosion as the 280mm rocket nearly disintegrated one of the Type 61s. The Federation tanks all seemed to pause as the first of their number died, Ami smiled and added her 120mm machine gun to the return fire.

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"S***!" Murray cursed as the Federation Type 61 exploded, "They got Terrance? We'll make 'em pay! Dani what have we got left to shoot at these guys?" he called up to his gunner.

"We got about 14 rounds of HEAT, 6 HEAP, and maybe 10 SABOT left, Sir, we're hurting for ammo and we haven't even touched em yet," she answered quietly, as if that would somehow make the news any less damaging. Murray silently cursed his luck and did some quick calculations, each gun fired one shell so two per salvo that meant he had 15 shots left... if Dani's count was accurate.

"This is Foxtrot 05 to all units left, We've lost a tread and our turret is damaged... if someone can lure that b***** in front of us we're willing to take the shot," he heard the Lieutenant's voice over the radio, he sounded a little weaker almost like he was wounded, "S***! He just got Kerry its just us and Foxtrot 07 left we need support!"

"Sir, we're a little busy over here its just three of us against two of them," he called back, then the Zaku they'd had pinned down before opened fire. Murray watched in horror as the 120mm shells stitched their way across the landscape and over the top of Foxtrot 11. "Its just two of us now, Sir, I think its over lets put up the white flag," he said quietly.

"If you do anything of the sort, Sergeant, I'll shoot you myself," the Lieutenant's voice hissed back over the radio, "You will fight to the death the same as the rest of us. Where is your sense of honor?"

__

Concepts of Bushido will get you killed on the modern battlefield he thought to himself, but the Lieutenant's remaining wingman fired off another salvo at the single Zaku and his own wingman followed suit. It wasn't over yet.

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Private Mark Dixon smile, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. He pulled the trigger again and a loud whup sounded as the next rocket from his Bazooka flew down at the remaining tanks, obliterating another. Ami had the other backing up for the tree line and he waited for a new round to cycle into the chamber. _Fish in a barrel_ he thought to himself, lining up the next tank in his sights.

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"Sir, this isn't good," Murray heard the voice of Private Hansen over the vehicle intercom, "I can't get any traction here we're just sliding back towards the woods."

"Sir, we're down to five salvos of HEAP," Dani's voice replaced Hansen's and her news was no better.

Murray was about to order them to give it up, the Lieutenant was likely dead, his wingman had been taken down moments ago anyway. _Its over_ he thought with a sigh, he was reached up and swatted Dani on the calf, "No more OK? Its useless we've lost," Murray was about to pop the hatch and give up when he saw something that stopped him cold. One of the Zakus was lining up the killing shot.

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Ami tightened her finger on the trigger and the Zaku rocked as the stream of tracers threw up snow and dirt. Only one round hit the tank, but that was all it took. The 120mm shell blew a hole right through the front of the sloped armor on the front of the tank leaving it a smoking wreck. _No one could have survived that_ she thought to herself _Two today that's a good start too... maybe this isn't so hard after all._

--------------------------

Master Sergeant Kurt Murray groaned softly, he couldn't feel anything below his waist. The last shell had really done them all in. The driver's station, along with Hansen, was just gone. Dani was slumped against the turret, blood running down the side of her face from a gash on her forehead. She might still be alive, but he couldn't check her for a pulse. He was too busy trying to keep his insides where they belonged, and staring at the photo of his wife through his increasingly blurry vision. _I... I'm sorry, Katie, it looks like you'll have to buy that house on your own_ he thought before he finally gave in and slumped over the commander's console.

Just to iron out a few inconsistencies right off for those of you who pay close attention to the details of the OYW. I decided to base the story in Germany because the weather and terrain is varied enough for me to play with. I have not personally visited the city of Stuttgart or its surrounding area so the roads and physical features I mentioned may or may not be there. Sorry guys it's been nearly 6 years since I was in Germany. Anyone with proper information is more than welcome to contact me with it at CharAznable86@hotmail.com. Also the Federation armored units were loosely based on US and NATO armored units, as that's what I have the most experience with, and I made up the Zeon armored units. Again anyone with proper information please contact me with it. I know I also took a few liberties with the Zeon uniforms and pilot gear but I was trying to portray the Zeon front line troops and I felt that this helped that feel. I also appreciate any other feedback you might have.


	2. Consolidation

Chapter 2: Consolidation

0079.03.22

0643

European Continent:

7 Kilometers from Stuttgart

Odessa had to smile, it had been a perfect attack. After engaging 8 Federation Type 61s her unit had taken absolutely no damage at all, but she also had to admit most of it had been dumb luck and the inexperience of the Federation tankers. "Collins, call this up to _Ark-Royal_ find out what they want us to do next," she called the commander of her unit's armored car.

Collins triggered the vehicle's intercom, "Tanner, Owens, one of you get _Ark-Royal_ on the radio and tell 'em we have engaged and destroyed 2 platoons of Type 61s and we are requesting further orders," he ordered the two radio specialists riding in the rear compartment.

His order turned out to be unnecessary as Specialist Carrie Owens was already triggering her radio, "_Ark-Royal_ this is..." she began before Tanner reached over and switched the dials on the radio.

"'Cmon, Carrie, how many times do I have to show you?" he asked with a sigh, "First you take it off platoon net, then you put it on company net, THEN you try to talk to the command and control guys," he finished up showing her the proper dial settings. "OK now try it," he said leaning back in his chair, "I'll help you out if you have any problems."

Owens blushed at his rebuke, "I woulda gotten it you know," she shot back, "_Ark- Royal_ this is the 352nd MS Team," she began before he could answer her, "We have engaged and destroyed two platoons of Federation Type 61s in our sector and await further orders, Over."

Tanner smiled at her, "You know you're kinda cute when you're mad."

Carrie blushed and pretended to be offended, "Oh please, besides we're on duty in the middle of a war zone here! Couldn't you have picked a better time?" she snapped back before turning back to await the response from _Ark-Royal_

--------------------------

Specialist Jarrod Carroll blinked in surprise _That was maybe 15 minutes from the time they reported contact till the area secure call... are they really that good or just plain lucky?_ He thought to himself, remembering how tough the Type 61s were supposed to be.

Captain Milo snatched the spare headset from the console in front of the sonar tech. _Idiot needs to be much faster than that_ he thought to himself, judging the young man who sat staring at the console, _Now lets see just how well this Lieutenant can perform for me._ Milo thought to himself, triggering the headset's microphone. "Lieutenant Ataka, your orders are to search for surviving Federal personnel and hold them for advancing infantry units. They will be transported to the _Ark-Royal_ for a preliminary interrogation so you must take them intact," Milo waited for a moment before he heard the voice of the 352nd's comms tech again acknowledging their orders.

Milo smiled and turned to watch the larger tactical map, he looked at the know positions of the Federal Forces defense teams and shook his head, it would all be over within the hour.

--------------------------

Odessa groaned softly, before flipping her own radio back on. "Okay, sounds like HQ wants to be adventurous... I know this isn't something they should ask us to do but lets figure out how we're going to do it," she said quietly.

"You're damn right this isn't our job!" Mark shouted over the radio. She could see the hands on his Zaku clenching angrily, she didn't know if he was doing it purposely or if it was an unconscious movement but either way it was something she needed to put a stop to then and there.

"Alright, Private!" she yelled over the radio, his comments had been the straw that pushed her over the edge, "I don't care what you think the fact remains that we have our orders! And we _will_ carry them out if it costs every single one of our lives... do you understand me?" she asked, lowering her voice slightly to emphasize that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

--------------------------

Private Mark Dixon blinked in surprise, in the few months he'd been with the unit he'd never seen or heard Lieutenant Ataka react like that. He swallowed nervously, realizing that now she was probably going to send him out to go look for and Feddies left alive, a job and a risk he didn't want. 

"B... but, Ma'am," he began to protest but was cut off by her quick restating of "Do you understand me?" Dixon glared at her suit, she'd always been reasonable before now... had he been wrong about her? He sighed to himself, regardless he didn't have much of a choice. "Yes, Ma'am," he snapped back, slightly less respectful than before, and waited for the orders for him to check out the tanks for survivors.

"Fine," her voice came back, surprisingly still a little hostile, "You're to stay here with Corporal MacKenzie and give me some support in case any other Fed armor shows up while I'm searching those tin cans."

Mark shook his head, wondering if she was serious, but decided if he didn't have to go then he wasn't going to argue with it. "Yes, Ma'am," he replied with a smile, turning to watch the road again.

--------------------------

Odessa bit her lip nervously as she opened the hatch on the Zaku's chest. _Perhaps I got too emotional_ she thought to herself as she gripped the pistol a little tighter and stepped out onto the skirt armor along the suit's legs before climbing down to the ground. She sighed and decided there was no going back and sprinted to the first tank, slamming against it with her shoulder and quickly turning to rest her back against the armor protecting the side of the treads. "Okay... you can do this... 'cmon..." she trailed off staring at the turret and the hatch mounted on top, "Ah! This is stupid let's go, Odessa! You can do this!" she yelled to herself climbing up to the hatch, already blown off by the remaining ammunition in the tank cooking off.

Odessa slowly glanced over the lip of the jagged hole in the roof of the tank's turret, staring down into the blackened interior. She moaned softly and clasped her free hand over her mouth and nose as the smell of gasoline, burning cordite, and scorched human flesh assaulted her. She managed to climb back down to the ground and kneel beside the tank before she vomited what little food she had managed to eat onto the ground by the treads. She tried to push the image of the blackened bodies of the crew, or rather what had been left of them, from her mind and turned away from the tank before moving on, trudging up to the next tank, any expectation of survivors now extinguished from her mind.

--------------------------

"Jeremy... hey, Jerms you in here?" Warrant Officer Jeremy Arch rolled over on his side in the darkened hanger, hoping the flight control officer wouldn't spot him next to a pile of spare parts for his Fighter Copter. "'Cmon, Jeremy," he heard the voice calling him again followed by a nudge at his back with the officer's boot, "You got a mission for once, so you can't complain we don't use you or that flying coffin of yours," the man said, laughing at the ground forces name for the Fighter Copter.

Jeremy groaned softly and tried, unsuccessfully, to read his watch. He pushed himself up off the ground and glared at his friend, "I'll have you know that my gunship is in perfect working order. I was up till about 3 A.M. making sure... what the hell time is it anyway, Ben?"

He heard Captain Benjamin Ferris, the officer in charge of air operations on the base, laugh softly, "Oh lets see... you're ten minutes short of four hours of sleep. Ready to go up?"

Jeremy sighed and stood up, trying to straighten out his flight suit and glared at the outline of his friend, "Damn you," he cursed softly, "You don't pay me enough for this crap. I don't suppose I get a choice now do I? Alright what do I have to do?"

"Oh I thought you'd never ask!" the officer replied with a laugh, "We lost contact with a platoon of tanks south of here, the two platoons left after that Captain brought in our reinforcements a few days ago. Anyway he thinks the guy he left in charge just screwed up his radio but the base commander wants to be sure so you're doing an overflight to find out. That's it, nothing to it!"

"I really hate you, do you know that?" Jeremy shot back sarcastically, "Why waste a perfectly good gunship doing a recon unit's work? Don't you guys have a squad of infantry to spare?"

"Nope, no infantry. Base HQ wants em all manning the perimeter, they're scared that the Zeeks are on the move again. Dunno why though I figure they'd hit the city garrison first," Ferris answered with a shrug, "I guess they want a recon in force and you're the baddest helo we got so you and your gunner get to go look at trees," he added with a smile.

"Yeah... I didn't even think of that. Where is Jake anyway?" Jeremy asked looking to see if his gunner had spent the night in the hanger as well.

"Poor sucker is in the mess hall drinking all the coffee he can get his hands on. Think he stayed up a little later than you... figure it was him and that radar tech again?" Ben asked with a grin.

"Wouldn't surprise me any... wonder how they stay awake, Jake was still here when I went to sleep," he replied looking around the hanger for his flight gear, "Hey! Where's my helmet... Ah! I hate those stupid techs... always moving things," he complained, looking under a pile of leftover tarps for his pile of flight gear.

"Here," Ferris said, throwing Jeremy's helmet to him, "I'm gonna go get Jake for you, you've got ten minutes then she's got to be up or there'll be hell to pay. For the both of us, so hurry it up," Ben waved over his shoulder as he turned to leave the hanger and find the helicopter's gunner.

"Yes, Sir," Jeremy snapped sarcastically, adding a bad immitation of a salute before trying to find his survival vest.

Ferris just smiled and shook his head, "Don't start with me," he sighed softly and walked off towards the mess hall.

--------------------------

Consciousness was not kind to Lance Corporal Danielle Anderson. Her head swam as she struggled to make sense of the blurred image her eyes were giving her. The odd disconnected feeling soon faded into sharp pains as her limbs began sending signals to her brain again. She moaned softly and pushed herself off the wall of the turret, turning to find out what had happened to the rest of her tank's crew. _Hansen?_ she worked to put the empty burned out driver's compartment and the young man's death together _I... Is he... dead? I should let Sergeant Murray know... he'll know what to do now_ she decided reaching down to shake the Sergeant awake. "S... Sergeant?" she paused for a second, the roughness of her own voice surprising her, "Master Sergeant? I... think Hansen is dead. What do we do, Sir?"

She paused waiting for a response, when none came she nudged the Sergeant's body with her leg. "Sir? I think," she began as she nudged Murray's body again, causing it to slump partly off the console. _Oh God! They're all dead!_ she realized as the tears began running down her bloody face, leaving odd clean streaks in the dirty mix of blood, cordite, and sweat. _I've got to get out of here!_ she realized, pounding on the turret hatch in panic _No! Turn it first, Dani... calm down or you're the next casualty_ she said, trying to turn the lever to release the hatch as the sobs began to wrack her body. The idea that the crew she has served with nearly her entire military career was dead was beginning to sink in, and she was desperate to run as far from the site of the battle as she could.

Danielle finally managed to force the hatch on the Type 61's turret open and cried in triumph as she propelled herself out the hatch on nearly pure adrenaline. She dropped to the ground and ran in the first direction she could after landing on the ground, straight towards the Zeon MS Team's last position she realized too late.

--------------------------

_Crap... did we hit them all this hard?_ Odessa asked herself, staring down the hatch of another Type 61, trying to force another image from her memory that she would probably never be able to forget _Survivors my ass... everyone's probably dead_. She sighed and pulled her head out of the hatch just in time to hear someone hit the ground and take off running _A survivor?_ she asked herself in disbelief as she turned in time to see a young enlisted soldier in a Federal Forces tanker's uniform dash past the tank she rested on.

Odessa instinctively launched herself off the tank, throwing the Federation tanker to the ground. The Federal soldier twisted on the ground turning to face her and reaching for the combat knife hanging off the belt. Odessa shoved down on the Federation soldier's chest, trying to prevent any further movement, "What the hell?" she cursed, stopping short of achieving her goal, "A woman?"

The Federal soldier didn't pause, swinging up at Odessa's head with the knife. Odessa managed to move out of the way at the last second, her surprise still evident on her face. The blade of the knife grazing the cheekbone under her left eye. "Damn it!" she cursed, pressing her free hand to the cut, blood already welling up between her fingers, as she propelled herself off the ground. She used her free hand to aim her pistol at the girl still lying on the ground, "OK, you hold it right there!" she yelled at the girl, watching as the Federal tanker looked around in fear, "You're lucky I don't toast your ass right here! Drop the knife get off the ground and put your hands in the air!" she ordered sharply.

She could see the Federation soldier staring at the pistol. The young girl bit her lip, indecision evident in her eyes. Odessa decided to prod her in the right direction, "Don't do anything foolish," she said quietly, flipping off the safety on the pistol, "Drop it now and you'll save us both a lot of trouble." She felt like smiling in relief as the Federation tanker dropped the knife and stood up, slowly putting her hands in the air. "Alright, now turn around and walk the way you were headed before," she said gesturing with the pistol, which she quickly stopped realizing it probably wasn't such a good idea to take the gun off the Federal soldier, "Try anything and I guarantee you won't ever walk again."

--------------------------

Danielle Andersen sighed again, fighting back tears. She shifted nervously on the ground and stared up at the Zeon Mobile Suits again, wondering how the spacenoids could have built such a weapon. She glanced over at the young soldier assigned to watch her. She chewed nervously on her lip before working up the courage to talk to the young man, "So... um... exactly what are those things?" she asked quietly, "I mean I've heard rumors and all..." she trailed off as he glared at her and shifted his assault rifle towards her in case she was about to try something.

"We're at war, Damn it," he shot back, "Or did you forget why we shot at each other? That's all we need get busted for giving away info to the enemy. Shit, we ask you the questions. Did someone forget to tell you?" The soldier glared down at her again before turning to glance back at the young officer sitting on the ammo box arguing with the commander of the armored car about bandaging her face. "You're just lucky the Lieutenant didn't give your head some new air conditioning," he added with a laugh, "I know I would have."

She blushed and watched the officer a little closer, "So... does she have a name Corporal..." she trailed off looking at the name tag sewn onto the soldier's uniform, "Corporal Harris?"

"Damn it, there you go again. Acting like we're on the same side," the Zeon NCO shot back, "Even if we were I would still outrank your sorry ass..." He trailed off and glanced back at the two.

"Well, does she?" Danielle persisted, "You never did answer my question."

The Zeon soldier glared at her again, "You sure ask a lot of questions for a POW, you know that?" he asked in annoyance, "If I answer this one will you shut up and be good till the cannon fodder shows up for your ass?"

"Yeah, sure," Danielle said with a shrug glancing up at the soldier again, waiting for his response.

"Great, glad to hear it," he said with a sigh, "Her name's Odessa. Lieutenant Odessa Ataka. Why's it so important to you? You like her or something?" he asked with a grin.

"No!" she shot back, "I just wanted to know..." she trailed off and stared down the road, the ditches on the sides starting to fill with muddy water as the snow began to melt.

"Right... whatever," the Zeon Corporal sighed and shifted slightly, waiting for the infantry to show up so his unit could continue on with their own mission.

--------------------------

"Ow! 'Cmon, Collins, is this really necessary?" Odessa asked, resisting the urge to climb back into her Zaku and wait for the infantry unit.

"If we don't sterilize the wound I can't bandage it," the Sergeant shot back with a sigh, trying to brush a few strands of Odessa's red hair off her cheek to apply the bandage, "That's what you want. Isn't it?"

"Just hurry up," she shot back, blushing slightly. She glanced over at the prisoner again, "Are you sure Harris is OK guarding her? They're talking again."

"He's fine," Collins shot back, his patience quickly running out, "It's not like he's gonna let her go or anything... its gonna leave a nasty scar is we don't let one of the medics with the 521st patch you up properly," he added, applying one of the gauze bandages to the gash under Odessa's eye.

" I don't' care! Just bandage the damn thing so I can go on with the mission without bleeding all over the controls," she shot back, watching as the first units of the 521st Armored Division began rolling up the stretch of Autobahn her unit had secured. "Anyway the tin can patrol is here so we can turn her over and get on with this," she added, standing up to meet the commander of the infantry patrol sent to collect the Federation tanker.

--------------------------

Warrant Officer Jeremy Arch held his Fighter Copter steady as it flashed by at nearly tree top level. He glanced down at the helmet of his gunner, Jake Pierce, to make sure the man was still awake. He sighed and looked down at the Multi Function Display mounted on the control panel to make sure the were in the right sector before calling back to the Stuttgart Space Port Air Control Officer. "This is November 1-1 we're at our destination, you'll have your traffic report in just a minute," he said, still not taking the mission seriously.

"Just get on with it," the voice of the officer on duty shot back, "Don't waste my time with crap like that!"

"Roger, we'll call back when we know something," Jeremy sighed and banked the helicopter towards the unit's last position. "So... was it the radar tech or the mechanic last night?" he asked his gunner with a grin.

"What? W... What are you talking about?" Jake stammered nervously.

"Ha! That seals it!" Jeremy cried triumphantly, "So? It was the radar tech wasn't it?" he asked, rubbing in the victory.

"Yeah," his gunner sighed in defeat, "She has a name you know... You aren't going to tell anyone are you?" he asked nervously.

"No... I guess not," Jeremy replied, concentrating on the map, "So what is her name anyway? I never met the girl."

"Really?" Jake asked in surprise, "I thought you were there when I met her. Anyway her name is... Oh shit!" he cursed loudly.

Jeremy laughed and glanced up, "Well that's an odd name for... Oh SHIT!" he added his own curse as he jerked the helicopter out of the Zeon Mobile Suit's sights, sending the stream of tracers over the rotors. "This is November 1-1!" he yelled over the radio, "We got hostiles moving up the E41, now you know where your tanks went. We're coming home!" he shouted taking evasive maneuvers and turning to race back to the base.

--------------------------

"Ah shit," Odessa sighed, watching the enemy Fighter Copter turn away from the assembled Zeon units, the shots fired by the Zakus on guard sailing over the attack helicopter's rotors. She turned and ran for the armored car, climbing into the troop compartment and grabbing the radio headset from Tanner's empty seat. "_Ark- Royal_ this is the 352nd. We've just had a flyby from a hostile helo, we were unable to shoot it down. Repeat, we have been spotted by Federation aircraft... they know we're coming," she added with a sigh.

--------------------------

Sorry I was so late in getting out chapter 2. It's a mix of finals, normal school work, and my job. But on the upside, school is out later this week so chapter 3 shouldn't take so long. In response to the comments from last time, which were greatly appreciated so keep 'em coming, the cursing was censored out because I got lazy and posted the version I sent to a different site which doesn't allow such word to be spelled out. As you can see they were left in in this chapter. Also in response to the damage sustained by the Zakus, I had to leave them intact for the final assault on the Space Port, which should happen next time, but they won't make it out untouched. So now for the summary on why I did what I did. I know this chapter is light on the combat and heavy on the dialog but I had some loose ends to tie up from last chapter and chapter 3 should more than make up for it so just bear with me. I only have 3 explanations that come to mind. To start off with the rank of Warrant Officer. I borrowed this one from the US Army. Warrant Officer is the rank given to enlisted personnel with flight status, much like the Flying Sergeants of World War II. The second is the Fighter Copter. Got this one from Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front for PS2. I wanted something with a little more firepower than the Fanfan but couldn't find any sort of rotary winged aircraft so I borrowed this one. It didn't quite use that firepower this chapter but, again, it will come into play next time. The next is the designation I gave to the Federation air units. I borrowed this one from Army and Marine Corps helicopter units (at least I think it's still used). I'll borrow the designation used in the story. November is the flight designation, I used the radio phonetic alphabet for this which I can post later if anyone wants to see it. The first number refers to the flight number, assuming that there is more than one flight, and the second to a particular aircraft's position in that flight. For a further example add 2 flights with 3 helos per flight. The second flight 3rd helo would be November 2-3. That's all I can think of for now, again all reviews are welcome either here or mail me at CharAznable86@hotmail.com.


	3. Main Line of Resistance

Chapter 3: Main Line of Resistance

0079.03.22

0703

European Continent:

Stuttgart Spaceport Defense Force Command Center.

"Sie sind dieses Ende bereits? Benennen Sie das Stadt garrison und bitten Sie um Extrakräfte," Kapitän Stephan Everth ordered his new radioman. The Private stared back in confusion, unsure of what to do, and it took Everth a minute to realize that the young soldier, fresh from Jaburo, didn't speak German. Everth sighed and shook his head, he had a bad habit of issuing all orders in his native language and by the time his command and control team left they were all fluent in the language. However, this young soldier hadn't had the time to learn how to say much more than good morning to the Kapitän. "I said call the city garrison and ask for any spare forces!" Stephan shouted at the young man.

"Yes, Sir! Sorry, Sir!" the Private shouted, whirling around in his chair to face the radio and began to call the Stuttgart city garrison.

Kapitän Everth nodded slightly and turned to the next two highest-ranking officers on the base. "Both of you need to come with me. You'll find out why we must hold this base," he said quietly, motioning to the door of the soundproof conference room.

--------------------------

"Look, it had to happen sometime," Lieutenant Colonel Scott Cerro said, trying to calm down the collection of officers in the command tent. The commanders of the units assembled in the southern attack corridor's staging area we all sitting on a collection of ammo crates and left over fuel drums in the force's command post trying to figure out if any changes should be made to the plans for the assault. "Eventually they were going to see us. It's pretty hard to hide this many units and in case you haven't noticed those Zakus are 17 meters tall. So it was a helo that spotted the 352nd and the 521st. I could have been a recon patrol and the 259th. Point is they found us, now what do we do to take that base?"

Odessa blushed, though only a few of the officers even looked at her or the commander of the 521st Armored Company. She sighed softly and stared down at her map, wishing that the bandage under her left eye wasn't so bulky, and stood up slowly. "Well, Sir, if it was me commanding that base I'd call for reinforcements from where ever I could get them now that it's almost certain I'd be the one to get hit. I'd also shift the bulk of my defense lines to the direction forces had been spotted from."

"So what?" the commander of the 642nd MS Team shot back, "That's what you'd do. What guarantees that's what the Feddies will do?"

"Well what the hell would you do?" the man in charge of the 241st MS Team shot back, "I know I'd go with her plan!"

"Alright!" Cerro shouted, "So how are we gonna throw a wrench in their plans? I'm open to suggestions." The question brought a silence to the tent as most of the officers stared down at their maps in an attempt to find some way to stop the Federation's repositioning of forces.

"Well I don't think we can stop 'em if they move their defense lines," Odessa offered quietly, "Maybe we should give them time to move what they want to move then do a photo recon pass and adjust our plan then?"

"Yeah... I like that," the Lieutenant in charge of the 385th MS Team added quietly, "Then maybe... it looks like here any units coming from the city garrison have to cross a bridge... maybe we can knock it out with an air strike? It won't stop them but with the snow melting and the ground getting soft it will slow them down."

"Well I think we can get a pass with the Luggen," Cerro answered, looking over at the forward air controller for conformation, "Everyone will be requesting that. However, its the air strikes that worry me, everyone is going to want them at different places and we don't have that many planes capable of getting here and making those strikes."

Odessa sighed and listened to the rest of the officers begin arguing about how to best get the strikes on the bridge. She glanced down at her watch and stood up quickly, "Regardless it going on 0720 right now. I think we could get the strikes on the bridge if we point out that they will probably be bringing in reinforcements that way. That affects everyone so they'd have to agree. But whatever we do we have to move fast. We've already wasted about 20 minutes here and we're handing the Federal Forces what they need most. Time to readjust to meet us."

"Crap... she's right," the Captain from the 293rd Armored Company shouted, "That's enough time to shift whatever forces were going to be shifted... even for Feddies," he added with a laugh.

Cerro shook his head slightly, wondering what idiot at High Command had given these kids commissions. They were too young to even plan what they were going to do on their next shore leave, much less planning an assault that would cost who knew how many lives. "Alright," He said, effectively putting an end to the discussion, "We're going to be flying this one by the seat of our collective pants so we better hope those guys on the _Ark-Royal_ know what they're doing. Everyone mount up and get ready for the attack. It should be commencing as soon as the western attack forces report in."

--------------------------

"The V Project, Sir?" Lieutenant Commander Carlos Vergara asked quietly, still digging through his memory for any mention of it he may have heard, "I don't really know anything about it."

"None of us do," Kapitän Everth replied, trying his best to keep his voice even rather than yell at his second in command, "You know as much as I do. All we have is this message from Jaburo saying the personnel in that shuttle are vital to the V Project and it must launch at all costs," he added pushing the piece of paper across the table to the older officer.

"How long will we have to hold, Kapitän?" the Federation Army's liaison officer, Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Curtis, asked quietly.

Everth did his best to keep from smiling. He was proud of his heritage as a native German and had fought hard to get the rank of Kapitän rather than the generic 'Commander'. Hearing one of his own officers, even a subordinate, use it was a source of pride for him. "Unfortunately, I have no answer for you. I don't think any longer than it takes to launch the shuttle. However, I don't plan to roll over and die once that happens."

"I understand that, Kapitän," Curtis replied staring down the sheet that contained the estimated Zeon forces, "However, I don't think we can hold out for more than an hour... maybe two. Will that be enough?"

"That depends," Everth said quietly turning to look at Vergara, "On how fast Commander Vergara can get that shuttle airborne."

"We're prepping for launch now," Vergara answered with a shrug, "Last time the crew reported in they were 70% done with fuel loading and were beginning to load the... um... 'cargo'. After they're ready it all depends on how fast the orbital fleet can open us a window to launch through."

"Do you wish to issue orders to the ground forces, Kapitän?" Curtis asked, gesturing to the map of the base's defense forces, "This is a naval facility after all. The army troops are technically under your command."

Everth couldn't help but smile, it was too bad this Curtis had joined the Federation Army. He could have used such an officer under his direct command. "No... I'll leave that up to you for now. My experience is with warships, not tanks."

"Very well, Kapitän," Curtis replied with a nod, "If I may be excused. I should attend to the defenses of the base."

Everth simply nodded and turned his attention to Vergara, "And you, Lieutenant Commander, Need to figure out just how long its going to take to launch that shuttle," he snapped sharply, shifting his attention back to Curtis, "I'll update you as soon as Commander Vergara gives me an estimate."

Curtis nodded and turned to leave to conference room, smiling as soon as he had his back to the Kapitän. _At least the navy has one officer who knows what he's doing,_ Curtis thought to himself, quickly suppressing his grin before he re-entered the command center.

--------------------------

"Odessa?" Lieutenant Yuri Lvov called to the young Mobile Suit pilot exiting the tent in front of him, "Odessa Ataka, I should have know it was you. You always were the strategist," he added with a smile.

"I could always beat you at chess, Yuri," Odessa called back with a laugh, turning to greet her old friend from Side 3, "Do you still play? Maybe we can get a game in after this operation is over," she added, grinning as she remembered the days before the war.

"Play you again?" he shot back, "No thanks I finally got my confidence back. I don't need you to trash it again."

"Oh well," she answered with a shrug, "I didn't think they could get you to join up if they paid you everything in the treasury. What are you doing here?"

Yuri smiled slightly, "You're right they couldn't get me to join. I got drafted. Look at me now I'm in charge of an armored platoon..." he trailed off showing her the insignia on the shoulder of the tanker's uniform jacket.

"Well at least I got Mobile Suits," Odessa shot back with a smile, "So what unit did they assign you to?"

"I'm with the 293rd right now," he answered with a shrug, "I requested a transfer to an MS Team but who knows?"

"Well the 293rd is a decent group. Besides we'll be working together for this phase," Odessa added, checking the unit objectives, "Looks like we'll see if all those video games you played pay off in the end," she added with a grin.

"Hey that doesn't count!" he shot back quickly, "Those were just games you don't have to compensate for half the things you do in the real world."

"I know," Odessa said with a sigh, "Besides that you cheated," she added with a grin.

"I did not!" Yuri shot back angrily, "That was just a lucky shot, you can ask Kira..." he trailed off suddenly, watching for Odessa's reaction, "Hey, you haven't heard from her lately, have you?" he asked tentatively, "I got one or two letters but they weren't much and that was some time ago."

"Nope, I got the same," she answered with a shrug, though it was obvious the gesture was a forced attempt to look unconcerned, "I suppose it was the same as you got. Finishing high school, don't know what's next. Hope to hear from you soon. Right?"

"Yeah, something like that," he answered quietly, "Hey look, if she writes you again can you let me know?"

"What makes you think she'll write me first?" Odessa shot back, trying hard to forget the reason she already knew.

"Well she did always like you more," Yuri answered quietly, "And... Um... well you know why..." he trailed off, his face turning red as he tried to hint around a subject he never wanted to remember.

"Hey!" the voice of Colonel Cerro broke into their recollection of the past, "You were the ones who pointed out how much time we were wasting. Suit up, its time to go back to the war. They don't pay us by the hour."

The two Lieutenants snapped a quick salute and watched as Cerro turned and walked back to the command center. "I'll let you know if I hear from her," Odessa said quietly before turning to jog back to her unit. Yuri stood for a moment watching her go, wondering what had happened between the two, before turning to rejoin his own unit.

--------------------------

Captain Milo stared at the papers for air strikes. _Hmm, the 352nd wants a strike do they?_ Milo asked himself _Well lets see what they can do if I give them what they want_ he decided, turning to the air force lieutenant assigned to coordinate the operations between the two services. "Get them their strike," he ordered sharply, pushing the transcript of the 352nd's request to the young officer.

"But, Sir, we don't have the planes for that," the young man objected, shaking his head slightly.

"I don't care!" Milo shot back, "Pull some of those new Dodai IIs out of the Besancon region if you have to, but get them their strikes," he yelled, shaking his fist at the soldier.

The younger officer shifted nervously, wondering how the intelligence officer was going to ruin his career, and nodded in defeat, "Alright, Sir, but that will leave the French garrisons without much air support if the guerrillas make another attack."

Milo shook his head and turned back to the requests on the table.

--------------------------

Colonel James Allen walked down the line of tanks preparing to leave the Stuttgart City Garrison. He paused every few steps to watch each crew finish up their preperations to move to the spaceport and sighed, wishing he would be able to accompany the soldiers into battle rather than being forced to wait out the fight at the garrison.

"We're ready to go, Colonel," Major Peter Kiehl informed him as he passed by the armored division commander's tank, "We'll move out as soon as you give the word."

Allen nodded and glanced down the line of armored vehicles one last time and sighed. "Good hunting, Major. I wish I was going with you..." he trailed off, turning to walk back to the garrison command post as the first of the tanks started up behind him.

--------------------------

"Load it up!" Jeremy Arch yelled at the ground crew on the helipad, "I need whatever you have that might even have a shot at killing one of those damn robots!"

The young corporal in charge of the ground crew saluted and ran off to talk to the two men who were supposed to load the weapons onto the Fighter Copter. Jeremy turned to look at his helicopter again and wondered if he really would be able to stop even one of those Zeon monsters.

"Hey, Warrant Officer," the corporal yelled over the noise of the platoon of Type 61s rushing past the helipad and towards the southeastern defense line, "We have some Anti-Tank missiles. I don't know how they'll work against the enemy's... things, but they're all we have. And we don't have many at that," he added unhappily.

Jeremy sighed, his situation which had started bad was getting worse, "Load up whatever you have now," he ordered the ground crew commander, "How many more will I have after this?"

"The guys say 16, Sir," the man shouted back, "Enough for one more load after this one, then it's down to the 57mm rockets and some gun pods."

"Gimme a full load of ATGMs this time then we'll try to stretch 'em with a load of 8 missiles and 2 rocket pods for as long as they last."

The corporal's reply was cut off as a series of explosions rocked the western defense line. The man waved the ground crews in and turned back to Jeremy, "You better get in, Sir, this is gonna be a hot reload," he yelled before running over to help the crews.

--------------------------

"Major! I have multiple contacts moving over the French - German border!" one of the Dish's air battle managers called over the intercom.

Major Kelly Muller nodded and triggered her own intercom switch. "How many are there and do any of our fighters have a shot at those guys?" she called back, trying not to take her eyes off the instruments.

"There have to be at least 10 of 'em, Ma'am," the young officer called back, "They've just crossed into German airspace and are turning south. I don't think we have anything that can get to 'em in time."

"Damn! Well do we know where they're going? Maybe we can give someone a chance to get their asses in the dirt," she asked, trying to have her aircraft be of some use.

"My guess would be to Stuttgart, Ma'am," the technician answered quickly, "Those guys have been on the radio for about an hour screaming about the Zeeks they spotted. They only stopped about 15 minutes ago."

"Well call it in," she ordered, turning the Dish onto the southbound leg of their circuit over the British Isles, "Tell Stuttgart they have vultures coming in fast."

The plane settled into silence again for a few minutes and Kelly assumed the tech was talking to the command center at Stuttgart. "Ma'am I can't raise them," the officer's voice came back over the radio, he sounded a little more panicked this time and definitely more confused, "They just won't answer... do you think they're jamming us?"

"Damn!" Kelly shouted, tapping the radio panel, hoping physical violence would make it work again, "Well lets call Bristol, maybe someone from fighter command can pick those guys up on their way back."

"Yes, Ma'am!" the tech called back, happy to have something to do rather than stare at blank radar screens for the whole trip, "I'll get 'em on the line right away!"

--------------------------

Odessa sighed and stared at the clock again, wishing their march to the space port perimeter wouldn't take this long. "You know this would go a lot faster if they'd given us a Gaw," Private Dixon's voice broke the silence.

"Yeah I know," Ami's voice joined his, sounding much more confident after the battle with the tanks, "Hey, Lieutenant, why wouldn't they let us get airlifted in? We are qualified."

Odessa sighed and shook her head slowly "That would be because most of the Gaws are still on Side 3 waiting for us to secure this spaceport that's why," she answered quietly, wondering if she'd be able to survive this war as a platoon leader.

"Ma'am! We have a transmission from _Ark-Royal_!" Collins' voice broke in, " Reception is pretty bad but we're able to make out that the western forces have engaged the Feddies' defense lines."

"Damn!" Odessa cursed, turning to look down at the armored car, "Everyone pick up the pace, we have to hit the south soon and take the pressure off those guys," she shouted her orders, breaking the Zaku into a run.

--------------------------

Jeremy rolled the Fighter Copter up on its right wing and stomped on the right rudder pedal, swinging the gunship's nose to the right. He lined up the Zaku in the sights and waited until the missile completed its lock-on sequence before he squeezed the trigger, sending the Anti-Tank missile streaking towards the Zaku. The suit ducked under the shot, which immediately locked onto one of the Magella Attack Tanks behind it. The Magella's gunner quickly detached the turret and hit the engines mounted on the back before the missile impacted on the tank, instantly destroying the body of the vehicle. "Damn!" Jeremy cursed loudly, jerking the helicopter out of the Zaku's return fire and back down over the trees as he lined up for another shot.

"You know we'd probably have better luck if you let me shoot instead of using the commander's override," Jake called back to him, "I feel kinda like the fifth wheel around here," he added with a sigh.

"Oh shut up!" Jeremy shot back, "I gave you your chance to shoot at that guy and you didn't take it!"

"You gave me point something of a second!" Jake shot back with a laugh, "No matter what the next one is mine!"

"Don't get too comfortable," Benjamin Ferris broke in over the radio, "We just got hit on the southern defense line and I'll bet the north is next."

"Damn we just don't get a break!" Jeremy yelled, glancing down at the fuel gauge, "We have enough gas for another 45 minutes... maybe. And our ammo won't even last that long. Can you have that ground crew standing by with more fuel and ammo soon?"

"Yeah I'll have the guys standing by," Ben answered quickly, "Good luck, Jerms."

"Thanks, We're going to need it," Jeremy replied with a sigh, turning the Fighter Copter towards the southern defense lines.

--------------------------

Major Kiehl checked the map he had spread out over his tank's turret as the river separating the Stuttgart Garrison from the military spaceport came into view. He didn't even know the name of the stupid thing, and he didn't really care either. Peter Kiehl was originally from a military family in Berlin and his mind was back in his home city with his wife and son as reports of the Zeon advances on the city were received just before his tank division had been ordered out to reinforce the spaceport forces. _Damn! _ he cursed, pounding his fist on the turret roof, _Elisabeth and little Paul are at the mercy of those Zeon bastards and I'm stuck defending a worthless piece of land!_

"Did you need something, Major?" the voice of his Type 61's gunner echoed up from the body of the tank.

Kiehl sighed and nodded, "Order the first elements across the bridge... and try to get in touch with the spaceport again. I can't believe they're not answering our transmissions..." he trailed off

"Let's hope we aren't to late," the voice of his gunner answered, the kid sounded as confident as Kiehl felt but he couldn't let his troops know his true feelings. It had been drilled into him since he was a child that any true officer never showed any emotion.

Kiehl watched the first of the Type 61s from his Lima team begin to cross the bridge and was about to drop back in the hatch when one of the infantry men's voices called out "Air raid!" in a blind panic and the bridge before his division disappeared into the river.

--------------------------

"Shit!" Ami cursed loudly, readying the Zaku's 120mm Machine gun at the sight of the Federation defensive trenches. "Their damn tanks are dug in!" She yelled in frustration, noticing the larger areas of the trench system where the turrets of the Type 61s could be seen poking over the rim of the defensive emplacements.

"What the hell were you expecting?" Mark shot back, opening up with his bazooka, "They weren't going to come out and ask 'Will you please kill us?'" he added as the first of the Federation tanks opened fire on the advancing Zeon forces.

"Will you shut up and shoot them already?" Odessa yelled at the two as she opened up with her own machine gun, the shells throwing up a mixture of unmelted snow and mud in front of the trenches.

"What put you in such a good mood, Lieutenant?" Mark shot back as he sighted in on another position, firing the bazooka and cursing loudly as the shell sailed over the Type 61's turret.

"If you must know I met an old friend. He's working with us in this little operation... the Magella at our 9 o'clock about 500 meters back," she answered with a sigh, "Now shut up, you aren't good enough to talk and shoot yet."

"Oh, and would this friend happen to be more than a friend?" Mark asked sarcastically, "Because it'd be nice to know you're human after all. Damn it!" he finished loudly as his next shot landed behind the enemy again.

"Shut up before I regret not court martiling you for that," Odessa shot back, taking aim at the Federation defense line. _My god! They're using infantry to try to stop us!_ she stopped for a moment as she noticed the uniformed soldiers running along one of the trenches in the scope's magnified view. The pause was only momentary as one of the soldiers fired a portable anti-tank missile at one of the Magellas, destroying the tank. "Fine," she muttered to herself, "You want to fight? Well you brought it on yourself!" she yelled as she swept the machine gun across the defensive positions, firing on full auto. The rifle rounds impacted along the trench, collapsing portions of it in on the defenders and throwing bodies, and parts of bodies, into the air. "Everyone advance, we have to break this line!" she ordered, wishing they had been issued Cracker Grenades. A few grenades could clear this line up quickly enough, though for the time being they would have to make do with the Machine Guns and the Bazooka.

"Why do we need to hurry, Ma'am?" Ami asked quietly, "We have all the time in the world to break this line, their reinforcements are no longer a factor right?"

"Wrong," Odessa called back, "They're only slowed down. Plus I'm getting a funny feeling about this. They're unusually desperate. They're using infantry to try to repel us and I've never seen or heard about them trying this before. I think they're up to something."

"Well let's go find out!" Mark shouted enthusiastically, firing another round at the defense line, "Its no fun to not know their secret right?" He added with a smile as his third round slammed into the hull of a Type 61, blowing the tank apart.

--------------------------

"Damn it!" Specialist Jarrod Carroll yelled as he ripped his headset off and threw it against the static filled ground sonar screen. Captain Milo shook his head at the young man's outburst and walked away from the main table in the center of the room. He stopped right behind Carroll's chair and glared down at the young man.

"Is there a problem, Specialist?" he asked calmly, "Or do you enjoy abusing multimillion dollar equipment?"

Carroll looked up and blushed _Damn! This spook isn't gonna cut me any slack._ "I... it's just that the bridge crew is broadcasting well over combat density," he protested quietly, "We can't even talk to our men anymore, much less see what's going on out there."

_Well I can't just ignore him_ Milo decided _ And the kid does have something of a point... it won't look good if I can't tell my own superiors what's going on out there._ "I'll speak with the Captain," Milo promised before walking out the door and towards the bridge.

--------------------------

"Damn!" Captain Jason Metz yelled loudly, "They finally have us zeroed in!" He reached up, knocking the gunner's leg to get the soldier's attention, "Hit the one with the rocket launcher. That bastard will tear us apart if he learns to shoot straight."

The gunner responded with a quick "Yes, Sir," and by dropping the sights for the twin cannons onto the chest of the Zaku. "Target acquired, Sir!" the gunner yelled down to Metz.

The captain didn't waste any time, quickly answering the gunner's report with his own order. "Fire, waste the sucker!" he yelled and grabbed the sides of the chair to brace himself for the recoil.

The gunner responded with a quick shout of "On the way!" before the tank rocked back with the recoil from the twin cannons. The gunner let out a quick shout as the shells raced towards the Zaku's chest. Metz's own smile at the certain kill quickly faded into a look of disbelief as one of the other Zakus in the Zeon attack unit lit its thrusters, landing in front of the bazooka wielding suit. The 150mm shells blew through the shield, marked with a gray wolf's head insignia and 352 painted in light gray, and showered the chest of the Zaku with fragments of the shield and the shells themselves.

Metz stared in disbelief, which quickly turned to fear as the Zaku straightened up and the mono-eye flashed angrily at his tank, he kicked the driver's chair in a blind panic to emphasize the situation "Get us the hell out of here! We just pissed him off!" he yelled, triggering the company radio net, "All units fall back to the 2nd defense line, we can't hold them here. Lay down covering fire or the infantry has had it."

The Type 61 burst free from the dug in bunker it had been in, seconds later the return fire from the Zakus turned the carefully prepared fighting position into another crater on the German landscape. Metz quickly turned to the gunner, "Why the hell can't I talk to command?" he asked the soldier, "Did they hit our antenna?"

The gunner ducked out of the turret and tapped one of the gauges on the console between the two crewmen, "Minovsky particles are off the scale, Sir," he answered quietly, "They must be jamming our radio somehow. Lieutenant Carter went back with our land line communications gear but I think he and his platoon were killed in one of the rocket blasts."

"Shit!" Metz cursed, pounding his fist against the tank's hull, "When we hit the second line we're going to have to send a squad of infantry back to let Colonel Curtis know we had to pull back and to get us some new comms gear."

--------------------------

Jeremy clenched his fist nervously as he watched the smoke beginning to rise over the southern defense line. The Fighter Copter had almost made it to support the troops there when they had run into a group of Zeon armored vehicles headed for the western lines and had used up the last of their ammo shooting at those troops. The worst part of it was they couldn't even confirm any kills. He turned to the corporal again, wondering whether to yell at the soldier or just leave him alone. Jeremy settled on finding out why the ground crew was taking so long. "So what's the hold up? Those guys can't hold out forever," he sighed, realizing he had pointed out the obvious.

"It's one of these rails, Warrant Officer," the corporal shot back, obviously annoyed at the interruption, gesturing at the helicopter, "The mountings on the missile sheared off when you fired, rather than dropping off like they should have. I think the metal got corroded when they were stored for so long. We're going to have to pry them out before we can load the next missile."

"Damn!" Jeremy cursed, wishing he had something to punch, rather than his own soldiers. He sighed and realized just how ill prepared the Federation was finding itself for this war. "Just hurry, they're going to need support fast."

The corporal nodded, "I know, Sir. Imagine how we feel," he added quietly, gesturing at the ground crew, "We don't even get a chance to shoot at the bastards."

--------------------------

Kapitän Everth turned away from the communications panel to watch the commotion at the door. A few muddy, exhausted looking riflemen were arguing with the MP at the door. Everth sighed, deciding that those soldiers could only be here to see Curtis. He nodded to the guard, "Let them in Sergeant," he ordered and walked over to meet the young lance corporal who appeared to be leading the group. "I assume you're here to see Colonel Curtis?" he asked as the young soldier slowly pulled himself to attention.

"Y... yes, Sir," the soldier managed to gasp out, "W... where can... I find the Colonel?"

Everth sighed and wondered how far the group had come, "Take a moment to compose yourself, I'll have him summoned," he told the group, turning back to the private manning the communications for the defending forces, "Page Colonel Curtis for these soldiers," he ordered the soldier, gesturing to the group behind him, "You'll find him in the Combat Information Center." Everth turned back to the riflemen, "Was there anything else I can get for you?" he asked quietly.

"Actually, Kapitän, we need a new land line communication set. Ours was destroyed," the corporal answered, his breathing becoming somewhat closer to normal, "If there was any way you could get one for us it would be a real help."

Everth nodded and glanced at the MP who quickly turned to leave the room, almost running into Curtis as he pushed through the door. The MP saluted quickly and offered a quick "Sorry, Sir," before jogging out the door.

Curtis glanced around the room, quickly noticing Everth and the group of riflemen. He walked over to the group and glared at the corporal. "Is there a reason you aren't at your position, soldier?" he asked the young soldier menacingly.

"Yes, Sir," the corporal answered quickly, attempting to defend himself from the colonel's anger, "Captain Metz sent us, Sir. We were to inform you that the captain has ordered the southern defense line to fall back to the second position and to find a new set of landline comms gear. Lieutenant Carter managed to get ours, and himself, blown up, Sir."

"You tell Metz he may have already compromised the line. He is not to fall back without first consulting myself or the Kapitän," Curtis shot at the young soldier, who was by this time confused as to why he was the one being yelled at, "Do you have any reports concerning casualties?"

"I wasn't given anything official," the soldier answered with a shrug, "But I can give you my best estimate."

"Fine," Curtis answered, glaring at the man, "Let's have it then."

"We've lost 4 or 5 tanks at the most and a few platoons of infantry," the corporal answered quickly, "Also I think a few of our field guns got hit by some stray rockets and then there was the comms gear."

Curtis turned as the MP re-entered the room carrying a shoulder carried radio set and several spools of wire. "You tell that coward Metz that he had no reason to fall back," Curtis snapped at the soldier, "And if he does so again without good reason I'll have him shot and assume personal control of the unit."

Everth watched as the corporal quickly grabbed the radio and the others in the group took the wire and the group ran out the door. He fought back a smile as he realized he didn't think he'd ever seen men so happy to be going back to combat. "Can you really have him shot?" he asked, turning to face Curtis, "I wasn't aware that was standard procedure these days."

Curtis smiled and shook his head, "Shoot him? No, I suppose not. But he'll work a hell of a lot harder now."

"Sir!" the private at the radio shouted, spinning in the chair, "We got a message from Commander Vergara! He says the orbital fleet has a window they can launch within 8 minutes!"

--------------------------

Odessa swung the machine gun's muzzle along the defense line again, kicking up more dirt and showering the soldiers and tanks with clumps of mud and shrapnel from the exploding shells. She didn't know what kind of damage they were inflicting, and she really didn't care. This battle had turned into a slugging match. The had forced a retreat once but now the Federal troops were dug in and didn't seem to be moving at all. "Ma'am, incoming from _Ark-Royal_," Collins voice broke over the radio, the static practically rendering the transmission unintelligible, "The northern forces are breaking through. They've reported that something is on the pad warming up. We're the closest so guess who gets to stop it?"

"Damn!" Ami answered before Odessa even had a chance to reply, "Don't they know we still have half the Feddie Army between us and that base?"

Odessa ducked her suit under another barrage from the Federation tanks. She sighed, wishing her shield hadn't been knocked out of commission. The blast from the first set of shells had knocked out the motors responsible for maneuvering the shield to cover the cockpit. She realized she had yet another design flaw to yell at the engineers for. "Doesn't matter," she shot back, firing another burst at the Federation tanks, "We have thrusters right? So we go up. Sure we have to go through some trees but the suits should be able to handle that."

"But won't we be leaving the attack forces on their own?" Mark added his own protest to the conversation, "We are providing a good portion of the firepower."

"There's still a good 3 or 4 more MS teams in this group and I think you're selling our armored friends short," she answered, firing another burst at the retreating Federation soldiers, "Anyway I'm sure command has thought that through. All we can do is follow our orders."

Odessa kicked her own thrusters, trying to steer the Zaku away from the strongest looking branches. She still cursed as a few sickening thuds vibrated the mobile suit as it crashed thorough the canopy. She sighed as the Zaku burst clear from the trees and sailed over the confused Federation defenders. She her smile quickly faded and she groaned softly as the mobile suit crashed back through the canopy and the branches had their turn to assault the legs of the Zaku, mentally calculating all the repairs that would have to be made to the suit. Her attention was brought back to the battle by Mark's loud "Oh Shit!"

--------------------------

Warrant Officer Jeremy Arch smiled as the second Zaku sailed above the trees. The first one had been too fast to hit but the second had gone much higher, making it an easier target. The Zaku fired a rocket at his gunship, but he easily sidesliped the larger rocket, not made for shooting at small, fast targets like his helicopter. "It's over, pal," he said quietly as tone for missile lock sounded in his helmet and Jake squeezed the trigger. The missile stared off for the Zaku's lower legs, where it was picking up the heat from the leg mounted thrusters. The pilot of the mobile suit quickly cut the thrusters, trying to lose the missile. The missile instead went for the last location it had for the suit, impacting the falling suit just above the entry hatch, filling the cockpit with shrapnel and molten metal.

"Die you son of a bitch!" Jake yelled, thrusting his fist as high in the air as the canopy glass would allow, "You aren't invincible after all!"

"Shit! Neither are we!" Jeremy yelled, jerking the Fighter Copter to the left as another Zaku launched itself out of the trees, spraying machine gun fire at them. Three of the shells impacted on the fuselage and tail, throwing the gunship into a spin that ended with a crash through the trees and left the helicopter suspended 6 meters off the ground.

--------------------------

"They got Mark!" Ami yelled, "We've got to go back and get him!"

"Shut up!" Odessa shot back, fighting back the urge to turn around and blow every single Federation soldier off the face of the planet, and at the same time the urge to break down and cry, "He's dead. Do you understand me? Dead," she shot back as the realization that she had managed to get one of the soldiers under her command killed began to sink in.

"But we can't just leave him," Ami protested, the camera-eye on her Zaku swiveled back to stare at the fallen mobile suit.

"Collins and the rest of the armored car crew are back there," Odessa answered, "They'll take care of him. We have to stop whatever the hell was worth getting Mark killed for," she added, deciding she wouldn't let the younger pilot die for nothing.

"R... right," Ami answered, finally giving in and turning to follow her commander's mobile suit.

Odessa shoved the throttle all the way forward and charged the Zaku past the empty trenches of the Federation's final defense line, stopping to fire a few shots into the trenches, collapsing sections of the defensive structures.

"I see the enemy shuttle!" Ami yelled, readjusting the machine gun and steering the Zaku towards the pad. The two suits crashed through the perimeter wall, turning to search for defensive forces.

--------------------------

The loud knocking on the crew compartment door on the 352nd's armored car caused Carrie Owens to stiffen in her seat. She glanced over at Specialist Tanner who slowly drew his pistol and motioned for her to open the hatch. Carrie bit her lip and slowly reached for the lever and let the hatch swing open. A young Lieutenant wearing a Zeon Tanker's uniform stuck his head in and smiled. "Sorry to bother you but our radio isn't working," he said, glancing around the interior of the car, "I was wondering if yours might be?"

Carrie sighed in relief and dropped back into her seat, "Nope, sorry," she replied, forcing a weak smile, "But if you want a cup of sugar we might be able to help."

"Thanks, I might keep that in mind when the field kitchens arrive tonight," the lieutenant added, making a face to show his disapproval, "You guys wouldn't happen to know where I can find the commander of the 352nd would you?"

Carrie looked over her shoulder at Tanner who shrugged in response. She turned back to the officer and shrugged, "Lieutenant Ataka took off with most of our firepower after _Ark-Royal_ asked us to kill something on the pads," she answered, staring harder at the young officer, "Do you know the Lieutenant? I don't remember seeing you at our position."

"Well I doubt you would have. I know Odessa from back on Side 3," he answered with a smile and extended his hand, "I'm Lieutenant Yuri Lvov, I'm with the 293rd right now. Sorry I didn't know you were with the 352nd."

"Nice to finally meet you," Tanner called over Carrie's shoulder, "We've heard so much about you," he added with a grin.

"Shut up," Collins added, poking his head in from the crew compartment, "Do you mind if we stick close to you, Lieutenant? We just lost a good 99 percent of our firepower."

Yuri shrugged, "Well I suppose I owe Odessa at least babysitting her unit once," he answered with a nod, "I gotta get back to my tank first but you're welcome to tag along."

"Thanks," Collins answered before turning back to the crew compartment, "Dawes give him some covering fire!" he yelled up to the armored car's machine gunner. Yuri gave the two radio operators in back a quick salute before sprinting back to his tank when the 20mm machine gun began firing again.

"You know... he was kinda cute..." Carrie trailed off as she slammed the hatch closed and moved back to her seat.

"Don't get any ideas," Collins' voice echoed from the crew compartment, "You know how the brass feel about officer - enlisted relationships," he added as the armored car lurched forward, following Lieutenant Lvov's Magella.

"Yeah, I know," Carrie sighed as she dropped back into her seat and stared at the silent radio.

--------------------------

The young Lance Corporal standing by the helicopter pad stared in disbelief as the first of the Zeon Mobile Suits broke through the southern walls. "'Cmon, Corp, we gotta get outta here!" one of the other weapons handlers yelled, grabbing his shirtsleeve. The corporal twisted his arm free and grabbed the side arm he'd been issued.

"Screw that let's go help those guys!" he yelled, taking off for the launch pads, gesturing for the rest of the ground crew to follow him to the security police positions.

--------------------------

"More infantry?" Odessa asked in disbelief as the spaceport military police stood behind their hastily set up barricades, firing their mix of pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles at the Zakus in a vain attempt to stop the suits, "They've got to be desperate. Whatever this is it has to be important... did we catch a general?"

"This is the 601st to anyone in the area of the launch pad," an unfamiliar voice broke over the radio, "They're launching! Hurry up and shoot it down!"

Odessa bit her lip and took aim at the shuttle, beginning to pull away from the pad and rapidly accelerating, pulling the trigger for the machine gun. Ami's Zaku matching her action. "Damn!" She cursed loudly over the open channel, watching the rounds from their weapons falling behind the spacecraft, "We can't hit 'em it's moving to fast for our fire control computers to keep up!" she shouted, firing in vain at the rapidly accelerating shuttle.

"No!" Ami yelled as the Zaku's fire control computers lost the lock on the shuttle, "They got away... we couldn't stop them."

"Well all we can do is hope the space forces can shoot his ass down," Odessa answered with a sigh.

--------------------------

"Well the launch was successful," Everth said quietly.

"It's out of our hands now, anyway," Cutis answered with a nod.

"Well they're inside our perimeter," Everth added, turning to look at the computer map of the area surrounding the base, "Sound the alert and have all our forces fall back to the base's perimeter."

"Yes, Kapitän," Curtis answered with a nod before turning to one of the soldiers manning the command and control bunker, "Do we have any word from the Stuttgart Garrison?"

Everth shrugged "We can barely talk to the building next door," he answered for the soldier, "They could be at the front gate and we wouldn't know it. Anyway we accomplished what was asked of us. Now the fight to survive begins."

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I was really disappointed with the first draft of Chapter 3, so I rewrote it. I kinda thought I left out a lot of angles that could be touched on and some areas seemed way too vague. So I took my sweet time and rewrote it till I was happy and here she is. Chapter three version two. Hope you like this one better and I hope chapter 4 goes a little smoother and faster. By the way the actual translation (If the Internet doesn't lie) for the first German phrase is "They're that close already? Call the city garrison and ask for any extra forces". Please give me a few reviews to work with. Speaking of which, I have been considering a fight with the "White Devil" but there aren't many places where the 352nd, or at least part of it, can come out alive. We'll just have to see what develops. Same ways as before, either here or at CharAznable86@hotmail.com. Can't think of anything else except Zieg Zeon!


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